10 weeks... but who's counting?

Elin had her two month appointment this week but she is really 10 weeks old this week. We knew our little munchkin was gaining weight and getting a bit "chunky" and now her stats are in.
She weighs 11 lbs 6 oz which puts her in the 50%. Her height is 22 1/2 inches 30% and her head is in the 25%. She is growing well and is a healthy baby. She is developing a little bit of a flat spot on her head so we need to be conscious of turning her head the other way. Myles called it the "second kid flat spot". She isn't held as much as Anya was because we are so busy with guess who?
Anya started preschool last week and absolutely loves it. Besides lovely artwork she brought home a cold in the first week and shared it with Elin. Poor girl has been snorting ever since. I found out from our pediatrician that babies only breathe through their nose for the first 6 months so no wonder she is having so much trouble. Thankfully it is only a minor cold and Anya recovered from it quickly so we have our fingers crossed that Elin will do the same.

Despite Elin's prognosis of hearing loss it seems like she hears all sorts of things. I know that if she hadn't failed the hearing screen I would have no idea that she suffered from any sort of hearing loss. She responds to us when we talk to her and coos back in conversation. She turns her head towards us when we talk and reacts to certain sounds. However since we know she has some loss other things are more obvious. She never startles to any loud noise, she isn't upset by loud noises and our singing doesn't bother her (this last one is a joke....) We are anxious for November 13th when she gets her hearing aids to see how she reacts and to begin her path to catching up on the three + months she missed out on.

Sleeping- well that has been a challenge. We had one glorious night when she slept from 10pm to 6:45am. I was up several times checking to make sure she was breathing but she slept hard. Since then we have had good nights and really really bad nights. The worst was a few weeks ago when I was up with her from 1:30am until 5am- that sucked. She was having some sort of tummy discomfort and couldn't settle back to sleep ever. Myles and I were severely tired the next day. It is the cumulative sleep deprivation that really gets to me. One bad night isn't so bad but when we line up a few back to back I start to get loopy and can't function well. I still manage to make it through the days somehow but it takes all my mental capacity to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Anya. The nice thing about having a second child is that I know this will end. I know I will sleep again- it may be a while- but somewhere, sometime there is light at the end of this tunnel. Until then I deal with it, take naps, and Myles helps on the weekends ALOT!

Alright enough about my sleep gripes- Elin gets carted around everyday to take Anya here and there. She is a trooper and spends her mornings in a carseat or a front carrier going to all Anya's multiple activities. Right now it is easy because she doesn't have a set schedule. I anticipate it to become more challenging when this running around affects her morning naps but I have a feeling her naps will just be in the car. Poor second kid- no nice cozy morning nap in her crib.

We have had gloriiuos weather this fall so we have all been able to spend extra time outside in the sunshine. Anya loves kissing and hugging her sister especially when Elin is happily kicking on the ground outside. 

Two months old!

Well it's definitely been a long two months that's for sure. Elin is thriving and getting a bit on the chunky side. Anya was a pretty small and skinny baby but Elin..... not so much!
She has several chins and Michelin Man arms and legs. Chubby babies sure are cute though.
The reason for her "beefiness" is her constant need to feed. She LOVES to nurse and I am getting quite good at finding things on my phone to occupy my time as I sit and feed her. There has been more then one occasion when Myles has found some piece of food on Elin and quizzically asked me where it came from. Well a nursing mom has to eat too and sometimes that requires me to do it while Elin is nursing and sometimes I drop food since I can't sit up at the table. Sheesh.

Elin has been smiling for four weeks now but the really good ones are just coming out. You can see her whole set of top gums and she giggles a bit too. She likes to have conversations and coos and responds when we talk to her. She particularly likes her Ahma and Diane Sweeney; both these ladies have the gift of baby gab apparently.

Anya is doing remarkably well with the addition of Elin to our family. We had a couple of rough weeks but I think we were also ironing out some "3" year old issues coupled with new baby. She has since returned to her normal sweet self and absolutely adores Elin. She does however think Elin looks like a boy but I do too so at least we are on the same page!

Sleeping you ask- oh yes, we don't do that anymore. No, it's actually not that bad. She usually gets up around 2am and again around 5. We have bad nights and easier nights but we knew what we were in for this time around. She is still in the room with us in her bassinet. I'm feeling brave and might be able to move her out after her first feeding into her room each night. I still check to make sure she is breathing often though so I'm not sure how this is going to go.

Elin can hear good enough to be woken by very noisy garbage trucks at 6am and Myles alarm at 4:45am. I was kind of hoping that the hard of hearing thing would lead to a very hard sleeper. Not the case here.
We had Elin's final hearing test last week. We were able to get all the results (finally) and have a good idea about her hearing loss right now. She will be fitted with her hearing aids for both ears on November 13th. We are excited to see the change. We are meeting with a Family Resource Coordinator next week and can set up our next steps to connect with other families and specialists in the area.

We traveled with Elin a few weeks ago. My friend Kelly Bratton got married at Lake Tahoe and we went down to celebrate the event. Anya stayed with Ahma and Bobpop and Elin came with us. It was soooo easy travelling with an infant. After having taken many plane rides with Anya and varying ages and infant is the absolute easiest age to take on a plane. Elin was amazing and the wedding was fabulous.

Anya has started Preschool this week and will go Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. It is a coop so I work sometimes and other times I just drop her off. It's only for 2 1/2 hours but it's great for both of us. She is enjoying it and meeting some nice new friends. Anya was a flower girl in my friend Drew's wedding this past weekend. She did a fabulous job and made sure to get every last petal out of her basket.

Elin's hearing

Thank god for newborn hearing screens. Elin had her newborn hearing screen the same morning we were anxiously waiting to find out whether we would be leaving the hospital to take her home. That morning we had received the bad news that her platelet count was low and we might not be able to go home as we had expected. We spent the whole morning watching nurses and doctors draw Elin's blood again and again as the platelet test samples kept clotting in the lab. It was an excruciating wait to find out if our baby was healthy enough to leave the confines of the hospital. During that same time we had Elin's newborn hearing screen. The woman tested her once, she failed, so she tested her again. And again she failed. As not to alarm us she said that many times babies that are in the NICU fail their tests only to be successful later. BUT we needed to see an audiologist to make sure everything was fine in a few weeks.
Shortly after hearing this news we received the fabulous go ahead to leave the hospital. Both Myles and I easily dismissed the failed hearing test and weren't concerned about her hearing upon leaving the hospital. I did do as I was instructed and set an appointment for Elin to see an ENT (ear, nose and throat) doctor and an audiologist.

On August 30th, Elin and I went to Swedish Issaquah for her appointment. I was completely unprepared for what was about to happen. I had convinced myself that Elin could hear just fine and her reasons for failing the screen in the hospital were simply the result of her traumatic episode and subsequent treatments.  The ENT checked her out and said there was nothing physically wrong with Elin's ears. Next we went to see the audiologist for the testing. Elin was supposed to sleep during the tests so they can measure the brains response to sounds they emit through tiny earbuds in her ears. Elin always sleeps most the morning but do you think she slept one wink during that 2 1/2 hour appointment. Nope. I was stressing trying to feed her, comfort her and get her to sleep so we could get on the with the tests and find out everything was fine. By the end of our time Brenna- the audiologist- said she wanted to discuss the results she was able to get with me. What came next was the biggest shock of my life. Brenna very calmly informed me my child had severe hearing loss. WHAT? COME AGAIN? It was as if someone told me I couldn't hear- I just couldn't believe it. She spent more then a 1/2 hour explaining to me what this meant and how I should proceed. I think I took in about 10% of what she was saying because I was in such shock. She handed me a large binder with tons of information in it about deaf children and sent me on my way.

I had gone into the appointment with no hesitation- no worry what so ever about Elin's hearing, now that seemed so naive of me. Out child would need special help her whole life.
Since Elin didn't sleep the results were sketchy. We knew she had poor hearing but didn't know what degree of hearing loss we were dealing with. In the most serendipitous of events my Uncle was in town that same week from North Carolina and he is a retired audiologist. The timing was amazing. We went to the cabin that weekend with my parents and my aunt and uncle. Jim (my uncle) spent hours explaining the results of Elin's tests and answered our multitude of questions. He simplified the world of hearing and hearing loss so well we felt we had a good grasp on what was to come and whatever the follow up tests would bring. We knew Elin could possibly need hearing aids or cochlear implants if her hearing loss was profound. He also informed us that she would most likely develop language and be able to speak and attend normal school. Thankfully we caught this at such a young age that she will be able to progress with her language development on a somewhat normal path. We will need therapy and it will be a challenge but Elin will live life like a normal hearing child with all our best effort.
Yesterday we had her follow up appointment at Seattle Children's in Bellevue. Brenna, the Swedish audiologist believed we would get the best care at Children's since they specialize in pediatrics. I kept Elin awake and hungry several hours before her appointment but even with a full tummy and totally exhausted she still fought sleep. Myles, with his amazing touch and swaddling technique, was eventually able to get her to rest. We were able to get about an hour of sleep testing done and now have a clearer picture of the extent of her hearing loss. She has severe hearing loss in her right ear and moderate hearing loss in her left ear.  She will wear powerful hearing aids on both ears which will help bring her level of hearing up. She has an appointment set for November 13th to have her hearing aids fitted. Until that point we are speaking to her normally and focusing on the left ear.

This is the simplified diagram of Elin's hearing from the results we have right now. The red is the right ear and the blue is the left.

When she gets her hearing aids there will be an adjustment period for her. As you can imagine it will be an intense change to go from the muffled unintelligible sounds she is used to to a louder volume and clearer noises. We will leave them on for however long she can tolerate them and always remove them when she sleeps. The trick will be getting her to keep them in when she is awake and batting at them as she gets older.

Elin with foam molds in her  ears for hearing aids

Unfortunately we didn't get all the testing completed during this visit either so I am returning next Monday to hopefully finish the process. With the results of these tests they are able to program and fine tune her hearing aids to the correct volumes and frequencies for her particular hearing levels.
We are being assigned a Family Resource Coordinator to help us navigate this new realm of infant hearing loss. I will update the blog as we make headway and start figuring out how to approach her hearing loss.
For the time being we will be learning some sign language and spending time cuddling and loving our special girl.
I was sent this link from a friend and I think it really encapsulates how we feel right now. Please feel free to read it.
http://www.thecainfoundation.com/bor/site/TheFoundation/WelcometoHollandPoem/tabid/99/Default.aspx

First 5 weeks

Once we got Elin home we settled right into our new chaotic life. Myles went back to work the Wednesday after Elin was born and that first morning home by myself with two girls was tough- I'm not gonna lie. During breakfast Anya hurt herself and was crying and then Elin started crying and I was about to cry because it was nearly 9:30 and I'd been up since 6 and hadn't been able to eat a thing. But alas, everyone was settled and I'm sure I was able to scarf some form of food down before it was lunchtime.

 Elin has been down to Gig Harbor twice and Hood Canal twice and spent one night on Ahma and Bobpop's boat. Yes- we have been busy. No rest for the weary here.

The first trip to the cabin was in August with Ahma, Bobpop, Aunt Natalie and Uncle Scott. Anya had a blast floating and swimming and Elin spent some quality time with her grandparents and aunt and uncle. We just spent labor day weekend at the cabin again and Aunt Sally and Uncle Jim were in town from North Carolina. Anya loved playing with Jim and Sally scored major points by bringing Anya some awesome new books and reading them to her over and over again. Sally spent a lot of time holding Elin and she happily slept in her arms.

We have visited Oma, Opa, Gee Gee and Grumps in Gig Harbor too. Elin was able to meet her cousin Drew during our most recent trip down. He is three weeks younger than her. Anya loves playing with her older cousins. 

Anya is having a ball with her little sis. She kisses and hugs her all the time and Elin seems to enjoy it. She is actually doing much better then we had expected. She is challenging Myles and I more but is an absolute angel to her sister. Oh yeah, Boone loves Elin too!

Myles has been back to work full time for over a month now and I am able to handle the juggling of two kids better each day. It only takes us around a hour to get out of the house now! I wish I was kidding about this! Myles gets home about the time Anya wakes from her nap and gets to spend some quality time with both his daughters. He is amazing with them both and I love to watch him in action. The girls are very lucky to have such a capable and loving dad.

Scare of a lifetime

Our first night with our newborn was sleepless but thrilling. It was so wonderful to hear all those newborn baby noises again and hold and nurse that tiny little person. At about 7:45 am our pediatrician Dave Hildebrand came in and examined Elin. He mentioned her "clubbish" feet but other than that all seemed to be perfectly healthy.
About 15 minutes later after Myles had changed Elin's diaper he turned to me and said she's turning purple. Once a caught a glimpse of her pallor I felt my heart collapse into despair. We called the doctors and they quickly responded. Dr Hildebrand removed her shirt and rubbed her back vigorously. She was a horrible color purple and obviously not breathing. They rushed her out of the room and ran down the hallway with her.
I was left sitting in my bed wondering if my baby had just died in front of my eyes. It was the most horrific feeling a mother can ever experience. I heard alarms and code blue being announced over the loud speaker. People were rushing down the hallway toward my child. I just sat there in shock and couldn't move. Part of me wanted to remain in bed and believe all was fine but after a minute or two I gathered my senses and got out of bed. I had given birth 13 hours earlier so I was sore and unstable but I slowly made my way down the hall. Myles had gone with the rush of doctors so he was already down there.
When I entered the room there were at least 20 people in the NICU trying to help bring my daughter back. She had a bag valve mask on her face and they were pumping oxygen into her lungs. My doctor came to me and hugged me as I entered. She reassured me by telling me she was "pinking up". In my stupor I asked her what that meant- I think I just wanted someone to tell me she would be okay. SHE WAS BREATHING. They put an IV in her little hand and attached more monitors and things to her little bare body. Myles was white, I was ashen, but our baby was pink again. She had gone from a dusky eggplant color to a pink baby again. We were by no means feeling better but a small amount of relief waved over both Myles and I. Seeing our baby attended to by so many professionals was reassuring and terrifying at the same time.
 This occurred around 8am on Wednesday July 25th only 13 hours after Elin had been born. We remained at Swedish Issaquah and Elin was monitored and tested relentlessly. She had a chest X-ray, a heart echo and blood drawn for multiple tests. They started her on antibiotics in case she had an infection. I tried to nurse her but she was not responsive. Then the word came that she would need to be transferred to a hospital where they could monitor her. Swedish Issaquah did not have the level of NICU monitoring they wanted for Elin. We were devastated and didn't want to have our baby take a trip in an ambulance and go to another hospital especially a NICU unit. But of course we did whatever the doctors suggested.
So about 3pm the ambulance came and they put Elin in a special incubator transporter where she could remain monitored in the ambulance. We were to follow behind in our car. I was discharged from the hospital and we made our way to Swedish First Hill. The car ride was excruciating. I didn't want to be more then 2 feet away from my baby let alone an entire car behind her. I was thankful for the privacy of our own car though because for the first time that day I was able to let the entire event wash over me and I was overcome with emotion. Myles consoled me the best he could while he drove but the combination of post pregnancy hormones with nearly losing your newborn baby emotions meant I was one mess of a mom.
Once at First Hill we navigated our way to the NICU and tried to find out how we could find our daughter. We were let in by a Chaplin and showed the proper handwashing technique. The NICU is a very sterile place and they require strict procedures for visitors and parents. We were led back and were astonished by the amount of babies in the NICU and the set up of rooms. They were partitioned off into cubes with 4-8 babies in each section. Elin was hooked up to monitors and had one nurse who was monitoring 4 babies. There were monitor alarms beeping all the time and we were constantly on edge that it might be Elin's alerting us to some problem. 99% of the time it was nothing major but it still was disconcerting to hear the beeps. Most the other babies were preemies, some had been in the NICU for months. Knowing our baby was term and healthy (despite her apneic episode) was comforting; things could be a lot worse and being in the NICU reminded us of that every second we were there.

 Anya came in to see her baby sister for the first time. It was really hard for all of us. Elin had so many wires attached to her it was difficult for even me to pick her up and hold her. Anya wanted to hug and kiss her but we were worried about her snagging Elin's IV or other monitoring wires. It was hard to let her touch her much at all. Not at all what I had envisioned for Anya's first introduction to her baby sister.

 Since I had been discharged we had no room or place to stay. Fortunately First Hill has 6 rooms that are donated for parents of NICU babies to stay in for free. We were able to snag a room for the first night. I made arrangements with the night nurse to check on Elin if I woke up and to have her call me if Elin woke and was hungry. I went up once at 12:30 but she wasn't hungry. The nurse called me at 3:30 and I fed her. She called again at 7 right before shift change and I had to wait until 7:45 to go up and feed her because no one can leave or come during shift change. We actually slept fairly well because we knew our daughter was being watched constantly by a nurse. It was much needed rest.

Day 2 in the NICU was more of the same until we received the welcome news that Elin was being "downgraded" into a sleeping in room with us. She would still be monitored and the nurse checked on her often but we had our own private room complete with a bed for me and a "sleeping chair" for Myles. We were so excited to be out of the sterile NICU an into the more comforting feel of a hospital room- as ridiculous as that sounds! Elin's bilirubin levels were increasing (her jaundice was getting worse) so she spent a full 24 hours under the blue lights. She was naked except for her diaper and had to wear black out shades on her eyes. She looked kind of pathetic and we were only supposed to take her out to feed her. No cuddling for hours like normal and poor Myles hardly held her during that time. She seemed to like it though and was fine as long as we had the heat in the room cranked up to 85 degrees. Sleeping at night was very challenging.  Monitors would go off, nurses would be in and out, Elin would wake up to eat and the room was lit up like an aquarium. Despite all those factors we were overjoyed to be sharing the space with our little girl.  We spent Thursday and Friday night in that room and were told late Friday that we would most likely be leaving on Saturday. We couldn't wait to get out of there and return home and start our new life as a foursome. Plus we were feeling increasing guilty about not being able to see Anya. Myles was able to go and spend some time with her Friday so he gave my parents a break and helped Anya feel like we hadn't totally abandoned her. I had to remain at the hospital to feed Elin and I couldn't will myself to leave her side anyway.

On Saturday morning we anxiously awaited the doctors visit. Elin had not had anymore apneic episodes and her jaundice was getting better. HOWEVER her platelet count had come back very low and they needed to retest before we could leave. Our hopes were crushed but we kept our fingers crossed that the second test results would differ.

After waiting several hours we were informed the second test clotted as well and they needed to draw blood again. Our poor daughter had been poked so many times they couldn't even draw blood out of her little heels anymore. They took the third sample from her head. Yes, her head-poor thing. By this point she didn't even cry anymore when they poked her- I on the other hand had just about had it with all the messed up lab results. Finally by 2pm the third test worked and her platelets were high enough for us to go home.I cried as we dressed Elin in her going home outfit and placed her in her carseat. I have never been so happy to leave anywhere in my entire life. Elin made quite a splash as she entered our world.

Welcoming Elin Marie Magnuson

It's a girl! Elin Marie Magnuson was born at 7:07pm on Tuesday July 24th at Swedish in Issaquah. She was 6 lbs 3 oz and 19 inches long. I was induced earlier that morning and easily labored with her. She came out with only a few pushes and joined our family.

 Anya is extremely happy to have a new baby sister. I was a little worried about what her reaction would be if it had been a boy so thankfully we had a girl to announce. She looks an awful lot like her older sister and only time will tell how similar they actually end up being. Elin nursed easily and seemed relaxed with her new surrounding. I am pleased to have the pregnancy over and the ordeal of labor and delivery behind me. This time it was much easier and I feel great. I got the epidural when I was 4 cm dilated and it took a while to see any progress. Near her delivery time the nurse checked me one last time and I had gone from 5 cm to 10cm in a matter of 45 minutes.  I was able to have Elin placed directly on my chest and bond with her before any weighing or testing was done. This was magical. I wasn't able to do this with Anya and it is truly fabulous to spend those first moments with your new baby on our skin looking at each other. We are thrilled to have her in our family and can't wait to see what type of person she will blossom into.

Expanding horizons

The blog will go on..... albeit probably less frequently then when I only had Anya to entertain and write about. I love having the first two years of Anya's life documented in this format that I believe it is only fair to the second child to do the same. Magnuson baby #2 is due July 24th 2012 and we have no idea if it will be a boy or a girl. I'm on the one month count down and hope and pray this child is born early or on time unlike its sister. Here we go again......